jonwil

Yeah I think LEGO is absolutely targeting people who want a display piece (I see things like the Saturn V Rocket, the ISS, the Creator cars and more in the background of YouTube videos all the time)

The dark grey baby carrier from the Ninjago Gardens is available for sale now. The ice-cream seller torso (the only new minifig part from Ninjago Gardens I want) isn't for sale yet though.

Still annoyed that the Ideas Research Institute went from "not yet for sale" to "sold out for good" before I could even see it in stock, let alone buy one. Been trying to acquire all the parts ever since (I still haven't been able to find that printed star chart from a source I can justify buying it from given shipping etc)

I think one of the goals of Ideas is to draw people who aren't necessarily LEGO fans into buying LEGO. The Saturn V Rocket certainly did that from what I have observed. I suspect things like the globe and the typewriter are also aimed at doing that.

I think with a lot of these projects as well they don't have a wide enough audience. The Southwest Airlines 737 for example might appeal to Southwest Airlines fans or avgeeks but not to the broader audience (how many people in Europe or Asia or elsewhere know what Southwest Airlines is or much about them?) Same with things like Concorde or DC-3. The private space stuff (SpaceX/Blue Origin/etc), how many people who aren't space geeks would want one (NASA has a much broader appeal) Many of the cars out that have come up (like the BMW M1, Cybertruck, Trabant, E-Type Jag, LandCruiser and others) don't have the wide appeal of cars LEGO have chosen like the Porsche 911, VW Beetle, Mustang, Bugatti Chiron and Mini. Even the Sian has wider appeal (lots of non-car-guys like Lamborghinis or at least slick looking sports cars)

I was hoping for more animals that have never been seen before in LEGO (looks over at the pair of rare Orient Expedition elephants sitting on my table :)

I think any project based on a real world vehicle (car, truck, airplane, train, boat, space vehicle, tram) or a real world building is going to have a hard time getting approved. Too many of those projects don't have the broad global appeal (even among people who aren't fans of cars or planes or architecture or whatever) or are things LEGO themselves might be doing (e.g. all the cars from companies LEGO has a relationship with like Volkswagen Auto Group, Fiat Chrysler or whatever they are called these days, BMW, Ford or General Motors)

Not sure if its been mentioned before but the pink frog (from the Bonsai tree) is now for sale. None of my top wish list parts have become available yet though (1x4x6 door in dark green/cool yellow, blue high-vis torso, orange cellphone print from the CNY set, new fire helmet, cool yellow flippers, titanium metallic beehive, new city cash register prints)

LEGO has (from what I have read) seen increased sales as a result of the pandemic (people stuck at home taking money that would have gone into things they can't do such as holidays and putting it into hobbies like LEGO instead).

Looks like Disney has decided to release Raya as an upcharge streaming option on Disney+ like they did with Mulan rather than waiting for the politicians in California and New York to decide its safe for cinemas to re-open again so the film can get a suitable theatrical release). I wonder how that will impact the release (timing, availability etc) of the tie-in LEGO sets...

Actually taking another look at them they aren't as awesome as I thought...

I am hoping those awesome escalator pieces from the Ninjago Gardens and the Friends shops become available from B&P as those would be really cool to get hold of a couple dozen of for some future stuff.

I don't think anyone outside of LEGO will ever know the criteria for whether parts become available on B&P or not. Even a fairly basic generic part might be considered "licensed" in a specific color for some reason.

I suspect the chances of an Ideas set based on a license LEGO has already done in the past are fairly low (the only instance I know of is the just-announced Sonic set and there is a big difference between a Dimensions pack and a set). Even more so when the show the set is based on is not only not airing on TV anymore but has been replaced with a newer version.

LEGO clearly had market research showing that sets featuring things like mammoths and saber-tooth tigers would sell well to kids (the core target audience for LEGO City). Things like the Ice Age movies probably helped with the popularity of these I bet. Plus it was hard to do a theme based around discovering prehistoric ice-age animals without creating some ice-age animals (since they didn't really have any at the time) Sure they COULD do a goat for a City Farm theme (or a new Castle theme or something else) but unless they get market research to justify the expense instead of using existing animals they already have, its not going to happen.

They have said in the past that the mold for the old goat is no longer usable. So basically to have a goat in a set (either the old design or something new) requires a new mold and that means there would need to be a set where they can justify the high price of a mew mold for a goat. (even if they decided to do a farm line for City again they probably wouldn't do a goat in it since goats aren't as popular with kids as pigs or cows or whatever)

I am definitely interested in Sonic depending on how they pull off the final set. Not interested in the art although I am sure there are a lot of art fans out there who will be interested in having a Van Gogh (even one made of ABS plastic) on their wall :)

Given that Super Mario Bros has been around for 35 years and has had many games in that time (and isn't likely to stop being popular anytime soon) I don't see LEGO running out of ideas for sets

Although its not technically City, its City-adjacent so this is probably the place for it. I want to see a new version of the Xtra bicycles polybag. It could include one normal bike (preferably in a color that's new or rare such as yellow but any color other than red and medium azure would probably be OK) and one mountain bike (again in a new color would be good), some of the bike/sport helmets (something more interesting than the common-as-muck light bley in the current bicycles polybag) and some other appropriate accessories to go with the bikes (maybe there are things new since the original polybag was released that would make sense to add) The plant and food polybags got an update, maybe its time to update the bicycle polybag as well...

It wouldn't surprise me if the pandemic and the impacts on both supply and demand is the reason why the new parts aren't all being listed at once (i.e. its taking time for them to get enough supply that they can actually list the parts for sale given the need for production capacity for actual sets or whatever).

I am glad I was able to get some of the many neat Hidden Side parts from B&P while they were around (including multiple copies of the torso, legs and head from the neat-looking cop/security guard in the jail set). That theme gave us some very neat minifigs IMO.

It would appear that all minifig parts from the Blacksmith Shop are available for sale except the blacksmith torso (although some are out of stock right now) This includes the Black Falcon shield and both sets of shoulder armor. The green wheels (front and back) for the red wheelchair are now for sale as well, also the triangle road sign with men-at-work pattern and the 2 x 2 corner brick in dark tan. Not enough of the good stuff for an order yet though :)

Imagine the possibilities of Codename Kids Next Door (either figures or whole products)

Both the TLBM and DC CMF series had characters we hadn't otherwise seen (e.g. Cheetah, Bat Mite, Bumblebee, Clock King, Wonder Twins, Eraser, Calculator guy and probably some I missed). Hopefully the Marvel CMF does the same (although if they put Hawkeye in the series I wouldn't be upset since that's one Marvel character that I have yet to obtain for my collection that I really want) In terms of new characters, Gambit would be nice, as would Professor X or any of the Fantastic Four. Or in the MCU itself, how about Odin or Heimdall or even Howard Stark?

Do we have any information on when (or even if) the Crook's Hideout set is going to be released?